How To Confess to Someone When They're a Brainless Idiot
by Blake Farron
Summary: How are you meant to confess to someone when they're a complete buffoon? Akira's just gonna just have to try and find out.


The trip to the metaverse the day before had been an exceedingly gruelling experience. They'd just reached the new area and had swaggered in, expecting it to be easy after they'd swooped through the last palace with no problems, but instead both Ryuji and Yusuke had been knocked out, and Makoto had been far too close to anyone's liking. Akira had to drag all three of them back to the safe point.

Luckily, that was the day before, and the current day was much more relaxing. The Phantom Thieves had a collective agreement that today was going to be a much deserved break, whilst they licked their wounds clean – or Morgana did at least. The others used the medicine Akira had convinced Takemi to sell him. Useful stuff, even if she worryingly refused to tell him the ingredients.

"I think today is a great day to read some manga," Ryuji declared as he waltzed into Akira's room, completely uninvited.

Akira sat up in his bed and raised his eyebrows as Ryuji strutted in, a bag full of manga with him. Morgana just tutted and grumbled, "So much for peace."

"Hey, we can read manga in peace," Ryuji insisted as he grabbed the chair from Akira's desk and swung it around so it was facing the bed. He plonked down on it, then dragged it forward so it was close enough for him to rest his feet on the end of the bed.

"Ryuji, I don't think anything about you is peaceful," Morgana huffed as he licked one of his paws.

"Hey! I can be peaceful if I want!"

Akira sighed and quickly defused the tension between the two before it escalated into a proper argument. Morgana retreated into a ball on Akira's pillow as Akira shuffled closer to Ryuji to examine the manga he'd brought with him.

Truth be told, Akira didn't mind reading manga with Ryuji. He wasn't the biggest fan of them, but he still enjoyed them, and, well, if it meant spending more time with Ryuji, then it was a good thing, no? Ryuji was his best friend, after all. Or, he was on the surface, at least. Well, and in Ryuji's own mind. This didn't particularly bother Akira; he was wistfully fine with whatever their relationship was, as long as Ryuji never hated him.

Actually, he probably wouldn't be able to stand it if Ryuji disliked him in any form. Thankfully, the two never really argued, so Akira didn't have to worry about that.

"Huh, gonna read the sports manga?" Ryuji asked as Akira picked up one of the volumes. "Didn't take you for the type."

Akira peered down at the volume in his hands as he shuffled through the options he could say in reply. He could simply stick with a generic 'I like all manga', or maybe go for a more direct 'I want to read all your favourites'. He was sure he had enough guts and charm to tease Ryuji and say 'I like sports manga for the subtext' but passed that option over for two reasons: One, he did feel like being particularly teasing that day, seeing as he just wanted to relax. Two, Ryuji probably wouldn't even know what the subtext of a sports manga was meant to mean.

Akira settled on the second option and told Ryuji he wanted to read all of his favourite manga.

"Dude, it's cool that you like it so much," Ryuji replied with a grin, chucking the other volumes of the manga over so Akira could read those when he was finished.

Akira smiled back at Ryuji as he piled the manga up neatly, though internally he sighed. Of course, Ryuji missed the entire importance of Akira wanting to read all of his favourite manga. He never said Ryuji was smart.

Morgana had understood this and just snorted from the pillow.

As Akira and Ryuji silently read the manga, and Morgana took a nap, Akira's phone buzzed, and he pulled it out of his pocket to check what it was. Ryuji paused too, and checked his own phone, though frowned when he saw whatever message Akira had gotten wasn't on the Phantom Thieves chat.

"Who's messaging you, huh?" Ryuji asked as he peered over at Akira's phone.

Akira showed him that it was a message from Makoto, though was decent enough to avoid showing Ryuji the message itself. She'd been asking if Akira wanted to meet up and study, though of course he had to decline seeing as he was already with Ryuji.

Akira did like Makoto, honestly, but if there was a choice between her and Ryuji, well, the answer to that choice was obvious.

"Damn, why'd you always get the cute girls messaging you," Ryuji whined as he leant back in his chair. "No cute girls ever message me. The only girl that messages me is my mum and she's my mum."

Akira shrugged, not really knowing the answer to that. It confused him just as much as it confused Ryuji. Still, he wasn't even interested in the girls that pursued him, and so he told Ryuji that much.

Ryuji's eyebrows rose. "What d'you mean you don't like cute girls texting you?"

Akira put down the manga again as he considered his options. This time, the answer was an easy choice, and he quickly told Ryuji it was because he already had a crush on someone.

"Dude, no way!" Ryuji exclaimed. "You gotta tell me who!"

"Ryuji, give him a break," Morgana said as he raised his head from the pillow he'd been sleeping on.

"I'm your best friend, you gotta tell me!"

"He doesn't have to tell you anything!"

Ryuji huffed. "At least tell me your type. I can prolly guess who it is."

Akira smiled and gave away the first obvious clue: they liked sports.

"Huh? Do we know any girls that like sports…?"

Akira held back a sigh and added that this mysterious person liked manga.

"Someone who likes manga? I guess Futaba might… wait, it's not Futaba? Sojiro will kill you, man!"

Akira adamantly shook his head and said no, it was not Futaba. Absolutely not. She was more a little sister than anything else. Reluctantly, he added this person wasn't particularly liked at school.

"Oh, so like us then? But I think we're kinda the only ones."

That was the _point_. Skulls. This person liked skulls.

"So, they're a goth? Takemi? No way!"

"She doesn't go to school," Morgana whined.

How more obvious could Akira even be? He gave in and simply said that the person in question wasn't smart.

"Ha, I bet they'd never guess you had a crush on them!"

"You could say that," Morgana muttered, and he shook his head as he returned to his nap.

"Well, who is it, then?" Ryuji asked. "Come on, dude. Tell me!"

Akira quickly shuffled through all possible replies. He could simply insist that it didn't matter and let the subject drop, though Ryuji would most likely be saddened by the fact Akira didn't trust him enough to tell him who he liked. That, or he'd think it was a prank and would be annoyed.

Deciding that route was not an option, Akira considered the next one. He could just confess his feelings? Or maybe just kiss him. Hell, he had enough guts for that, surely. What was there to lose?

Akira shuffled to the edge of the bed and waved Ryuji closer. Ryuji grinned as he leant towards Akira, expecting him to whisper the answer into his ear, but instead, when Ryuji was close enough, Akira gave him a quick, sneaky kiss, then moved away.

"Huh?" Ryuji asked, frowning in confusion. "What was that? Wait, dude, you didn't mean _me_?"

"He really isn't smart, is he?" Morgana asked, and Akira shook his head. Akira had more than enough knowledge to make up for Ryuji's lack of it.

"Oh, I get it now! Sports! Manga! Oh, and the unpopular thing, and _skulls_ should have been a dead giveaway. Wait, what did you mean I'm not smart!?"

"Let's face it, you're not," Morgana muttered. Akira nodded in agreement.

"But… I'm a guy. You can't like me, right?"

Akira shrugged, as if to say so what did it matter? By this point, Ryuji's cheeks were blazing red, and he hid his face with his hands. Akira laughed and picked up the manga he had been reading and flipped to the page he had been on.

"Dude, you can't just… just… do _that_ and go back to reading manga!"

Now Akira thought was the perfect time to tease Ryuji that he wanted to read the sports manga because of the subtext. It took a moment, but Ryuji surprisingly understood what Akira meant, and his cheeks turned positively scarlet. He just picked up his own manga and buried his face into it, attempting to hide his embarrassment.

Akira chuckled and continued reading his manga. It was only a short moment later when Ryuji mumbled, "So… you wanna go out tomorrow or something?"

Akira asked if this was supposed to be like a date, and Ryuji hid his face again and mumbled something inaudible in reply. Akira simply smiled and said sure, they could go out tomorrow. Or something.

 **A/N:**

This was just a little vent piece I did a while back after dealing with some homophobic comments, so I wanted to write something cute as I couldn't sleep. It's been a while since I've played the game and I wasn't feeling up to doing research, hence the vagueness of when it's set. Ryuji is my boi and I love him.

~Blake


End file.
